Dixon's Top Fuel victory highlights fast-paced NHRA finals at Norwalk

NORWALK, Ohio -- A decision made by NHRA early Sunday morning helped beat the afternoon rain and allow the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals to come to an uninterrupted end.

Cutting 10 minutes off between every session for the day allowed the event to end before the clouds opened.

"It was hurry up all day," Top Fuel ace Larry Dixon said. "We got to the end just as [the rain] started."

Dixon held off Antron Brown to win his seventh event of the season and third in the last four. But Funny Car defending champ Robert Hight had a momentary freeze on the Christmas tree that allowed points leader John Force an easy roll into the final. But then the 14-time champion was upset by Tim Wilkerson.

In pro stock, Greg Anderson completed a magical weekend that may have turned what had been a pedestrian season into a promising one. Anderson's first win gives him at least one victory in the last 10 straight seasons. Following a winter fire that wiped out his home and possessions, Anderson said Sunday's win "will help pay for that first mortgage payment," on a new home purchased last week.

"The best win I can remember," Anderson said. "We end up sweeping the weekend, and taking every nickel they had."

In the tightly packed Funny Car division, teammates John Force and Robert Hight have been dueling for No. 1 in the standings. Not far behind, fifth overall, is the third teammate, Ashley Force Hood. The elder Force has won 14 Funny Car titles in his career to Hight's one, captured last season. But Hight has discovered it feels pretty good to be No. 1.

"I love it," he said. "What's cool is the fans never let you forget it. You get to the race track and they are yelling 'Hey Champ.'"

In one first-round elimination, John Force topped his daughter with a top speed of 297.35 mph to her 224.81. The win was good enough to keep Force atop the current standings. Ashley remained fifth. As for Hight, he clearly has his eyes on Force, and another title.

"This year, I said I wanted to win convincingly," Hight said. "It's a good feeling to be reigning champion, and fighting it out with a 14-time champ [Force]. That's a good feeling. For the countdown, I'd like nothing more than the three of us fighting it out. It would be a little less pressure and a little more fun when it's you and your teammates. That would be the perfect script."

The script at Summit Motorsports Park played out through the first two rounds of eliminations as Hight and Force met in a third-round showdown with the winner going into the finals. The winner was Force, but not without controversy as Hight sat in his starting stall, apparently never seeing the lights on the Christmas tree change, while Force was off an running with no complaints.

"He don't make those mistakes," Force said of Hight. "Lucky me."

While Hight's crew complained at the starting line, at the opposite end Hight was incredulous.

"I have no idea what happened," he said. "For some reason something was weird and it was a quick flash. It wasn't anything more than driver malfunction. I did not see the tree come down."

If that wasn't surprise enough, Tim Wilkerson, a distant ninth in the points race, then topped Force in the Funny Car final as the track suddenly became cool as clouds hovered overhead and winds were snapping the flags like bullwhips.

In Top Fuel, the "no surprises" division had none through the first two rounds of eliminations. The only three drivers who have won an event this season -- Larry Dixon, Tony Schumacher and Cory McClenathan -- made the semifinals along with one of the hottest in the field, Antron Brown.

McClenathan, matched against Brown in the semis, lost control of his machine just after the start allowing Brown, the No. 2 qualifier over the weekend, an easy roll into the finals.

For the third time in Brown's five final berths, he was matched against the series point leader and weekend's top qualifier in Dixon. The end result, while close, was predictable as Dixon won his seventh of the last 10 events going 313.29 mph to 307.67 mph for Brown.

Anderson, racing in the red and black colors for Summit Racing Equipment, entered the weekend fourth in Pro Stock, 200 points out of second place. But if his Norwalk performance is an indication of the rest of the season, watch out.

"Obviously, the sun is shining on me this weekend," he said after winning the $50,000 K&N Challenge on Saturday then advancing to the Pro Stock finals on Sunday. By winning, he picked up another $25,000 bonus for the sweep.

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